A victory in the fight against industrial pig farming

Our Not in My Banger campaign calls for all pigs to have the right to live part of their lives in the open air, not to be subject to mutilation and for sows to be able to make a nest in which to give birth. It was launched nearly five years ago to oppose the huge factory pig farm proposed in Foston, Derbyshire.

In a dramatic victory for the many thousands of Soil Association supporters and others who objected to the plans, Midland Pig Producers withdrew their application for the pig farm on 17 March 2015.

This followed a refusal by the Environment Agency to issue an Environmental Permit for the proposed industrial pig farm.

Peter Melchett, Soil Association policy director, said: “Everyone concerned about the future direction of British farming, and anyone who feels we should not go down the American route of ever larger, indoor factories holding tens or even hundreds of thousands of animals for their whole lives, will be delighted that this pig development has been defeated. Along with the collapse of the proposal to build an all-indoor dairy farm for 12,000 cows at Nocton in Lincolnshire a few years ago, this suggests that those in the farming industry and government who think food production must inevitably copy the American model of vast, indoor animal factories are wrong.”

Find out more about our Not in My Banger campaign against the large scale pig factory in Derbyshire and the evidence which suggests that raising pigs on this scale could risk having a serious impact on human health - as well as on the welfare of pigs.

Factory farmed pigs - the factsRoughly 9 million pigs are slaughtered every year in the UK but only about 1.5% of UK pigs are organic. Find out about the conditions that most British pigs live in.